Club Champions of the World

Barcelona's Brilliance Translates to Club World Cup Crown; Can Anyone Stop This Team?

ENLARGE

Barcelona midfielder Adriano celebrates with his team's flag after Barcelona won the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday.
Associated Press

By

Gabriele Marcotti

Updated Dec. 18, 2011 5:32 p.m. ET

Sunday's FIFA Club World Cup final was supposed to be the day Brazilian starlet Neymar would outshine Barcelona's Lionel Messi—the day haughty Europeans were reminded that there is pretty good soccer outside the old world, especially as it slides toward economic decline while Brazil booms.

Instead, it was a reality check, and another reminder of Barcelona's brilliance.

Barcelona destroyed Santos in a 4-0 rout that was lopsided by halftime, when Barcelona led 3-0 even after hitting a post. Messi notched two goals, bringing his seasonal total to an absurd 29 goals in 26 games and cementing the possibility that he could better last year's haul of 53 goals in 55 games. In this sport, a very good striker is one who scores every other game.

As for Neymar? Just last month, Pele described him as "much better" and "more complete" than Messi. But he was as thoroughly eclipsed in Yokohama, Japan as he was humble in his comments afterward.

"They are unbeatable: They're the best and they proved it," he said. "There's no point in thinking what we could have done differently. There simply was no contest. They taught us a real lesson today."

The Club World Cup lacks the cachet of the UEFA Champions League. In the name of egalitarianism, the tournament features the club champions of FIFA's six confederations, plus a representative from the host nation. Until 2005, it was contested only by the champions from Europe and South America. Even now the gap between winners of the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores and the rest of the field is enormous, so folks really only take notice when the final rolls around.

But the trophy itself has a long and proud history that dates to 1960 and offers the winner the right to call itself champion of the world.

Santos, which celebrates its centenary next year, badly wanted that crown. It hasn't won the crown since 1963, when Pele led the line. For years it sold its best players to European teams, like most Brazilian clubs, but with the 19-year-old Neymar, Santos made an exception. After rebuffing sizable offers over the summer, Santos in November locked him into a long-term contract through 2014 that pays him close to what he would earn in Europe. The club also rejected overseas bids for key players like wingback Danilo and midfielders Marcos Arouca and Ganso, and Santos spent considerable money bringing home European-based Brazilian players like Edu Dracena, Ibson and Elano.

Santos gambled to spend its 100th birthday as the world champion. The question now is whether it will maintain this level of investment—and keep Neymar just as it retained Pele in the 1960s—or revert to the old blueprint of serving as a farm team for the big boys across the pond.

Barcelona has no such questions. Its supremacy Sunday bordered on the terrifying, especially since the Club World Cup title came just eight days after winning at Real Madrid, probably the only team in Europe that comes close to matching Pep Guardiola's team.

What's more, Barcelona oozed confidence all week long. Guardiola gave his players two of the six nights off, letting his guys off the leash and fixing curfew at noon the following day. Wives and girlfriends were encouraged to come along. Colombian pop star Shakira hung out in Ginza with defender Gerard Pique, while Cesc Fabregas shopped for electronic gadgets in Akihabara and soft-spoken midfielder Andres Iniesta was spotted on the Tokyo subway.

"If I had done something like that and we had lost the game, I would not have been allowed to go home," Santos manager Muricy Ramalho said. "I would have been crucified on the spot."

Barcelona's effortlessness on the pitch is deceiving, of course. It's the result of discipline and hard work in training, just as the laid-back build-up to the final is a direct function of the team ethic: Guardiola trusts his players precisely because they're not the kind to party to excess or do anything else embarrassing.

Soccer should hope that Santos won't need to scale back just yet—and if it takes Barcelona as a model, then maybe Santos can come back even stronger. After all, the Brazilian domestic game is booming. Along with Corinthians, Flamengo and Sao Paulo, Santos is leading the way. This is not the time to retreat. The same goes for Neymar. No, he's not Messi's equal right now. In fact, he's not even in the conversation. But he's 19. In some ways, he's already ahead of where Messi was at his age. His time will come.

For Santos, there is no shame in losing to a club like Barcelona. Because right now, Barcelona isn't just champion of the world. It's one of the three or four greatest teams ever—and possibly the greatest.

Gabriele Marcotti is the world soccer columnist for The Times of London and a regular broadcaster for the BBC. His column appears on Sundays.

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